Effective toothbrushing involves the removal of debris, plaque, and discoloration from teeth and gums without causing damage. The cleaning surface of a conventional toothbrush is generally comprised of tufts of bristles/filaments, which transfer force through the ends to the teeth and gums to dislodge or break up debris and plaque. These bristle/filament ends do not easily conform to the irregular surface of the teeth and thus the conventional toothbrush design is not optimal for effective teeth cleaning. The bristles/filaments of a conventional toothbrush are also generally made of hard polymers such as nylon that can damage teeth and gums by abrading or scratching. Manufacturers of conventional toothbrushes have tried to address concerns about abrasion and scratching with various treatments of the bristles, such as end-rounding, or various compositions to reduce the hardness of the polymer, but even with these techniques, the conventional toothbrush design still poses risk of damage to the teeth and gums.
In addition to these limitations on cleaning and the risks of tooth and gum damage, the end portions of the bristles/filaments also do not effectively retain and distribute dentifrice during brushing. Instead, a substantial portion of the applied dentifrice (and its corresponding cleaning power) is typically lost after the first few movements of a conventional toothbrush. These inefficiencies can further promote overbrushing which leads to further undesirable abrading or scratching of the teeth and gums.
The toothbrush according to the present invention overcomes these deficiencies of conventional toothbrushes by incorporating a cleaning surface made of foam. The foam provides superior cleaning to the traditional bristles, while at the same time reducing the risk of abrading and scratching the teeth and gums. The foam cleaning surface of a preferred embodiment of the invention is formed by reticulation, a process that exposes connected skeletal strands and broken skeletal strands within the foam structure, resulting in a large number of small bristle-like elements. These elements better conform to the uneven surface of the teeth than the bristles/filaments of conventional toothbrushes, resulting in more uniform coverage of the teeth by the cleaning surface and thus more effective cleaning. The cleaning surface of the foam is also softer than the bristles/filaments of a conventional toothbrush and therefore also poses a lower risk of abrasion and other damage to the teeth and gums. As an additional benefit, areas of the foam between the connected skeletal strands and the broken skeletal strands create pocket-like spaces and thus the structure of the toothbrush of the present invention retains more of the dentifrice. This also contributes to more effective toothbrushing and reduces potential damage from overbrushing.